Investigations by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, New
York state's insurance department and Minnesota Attorney General
Mike Hatch found that Willis steered insurance contracts to
companies with which it had fee arrangements and fraudulently
misrepresented its operating methods to business clients.

Of the funds collected from Willis, $50 million will be returned
to the brokers' clients nationwide. The other $1 million is for
Minnesota clients exclusively, Hatch's office said.

"They were essentially getting kickbacks from these
companies," Spitzer spokesman Marc Violette said. "Is that acting
in the best interest of the consumer? Probably not. They should be
acting to bring their clients the best insurance coverage at the
most competitive price, and they weren't doing that."

The settlement with Willis was the third involving by Spitzer's
office since the probe was launched last year.

In January, the nation's largest insurance broker, Marsh &
McLennan Cos. Inc., which is based in New York, agreed to pay $850
million in restitution to end Spitzer's investigation into
bid-rigging, price-fixing and the use of hidden incentive fees.
Marsh publicly apologized for "shameful" and "unlawful"
conduct.

Last month, Aon Corp., the world's No. 2 insurance brokerage
headquartered in Chicago, agreed to pay $190 million and adopt
reforms to end the use of incentive fees, which were paid by
insurance companies - over and above regular commissions - in
exchange for more business.

Willis North America is a subsidiary of London-headquartered
Willis Group Holdings Ltd.

Willis' American-traded shares rose $1.03, or 2.8 percent, to
close at $37.35 in Friday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
That moved them well above the $30.36 low hit after Spitzer
announced his probe in mid-October.

In its investigation of Willis, the attorney general turned up a
2003 e-mail sent by an executive to Willis' regional marketing
officers that said: "I want to see you directing the flow of
business to these companies," naming insurers with which Willis
had contingent fee agreements, including Crum & Forster, Chubb
Group, St. Paul Travelers Cos. and The Hartford.

As part of the settlement, Willis will accept one payment only
for an insurance contract at the time of placement and fully
disclose those payments to customers. Willis had started to change
many of its practices before the settlement, Spitzer's office said.

Joe Plumeri, Willis' chairman and chief executive officer, said
in a statement that the company was glad to put the matter behind
it.

"Willis is pleased to have resolved this matter with the New
York attorney general and the New York insurance superintendent,
and we welcome the attorney general's conclusion that it was not
appropriate to file a complaint against our company based on the
findings of his investigation."

He added: "We also are pleased that the investigation found no
evidence of the practice of bid-rigging or tying."

In addition to the three settlements with the brokerage firms,
the attorney general has secured guilty pleas to criminal charges
from 10 insurance executives implicated in the investigation. They
include four former executives of the American International Group
Inc. as well as six others from Marsh & McLennan, Zurich American
Insurance Co. and ACE Ltd.